Dead animal in pool

[Poolproblems]

We have a 15ft above ground pool in our garden (in UK). For various reasons the pool hasn't been used since last year. It can't be seen from the house due to garden layout and for various MH reasons I've not been in the garden until the last week or so.

At some point the cover has come off the pool which is now half full of stagnant water, and a dead animal (we think badger). I called the council but they are unable to remove it, Rentokil only remove animals from inside. The only company I can find want £450, and can't guarantee removal. Which I will have to pay unless I can find an alternative although it is twice what the pool cost!

Do I just need to suck it up?

It's not a waste of taxpayers money to ask the council, it's a separately paid service they provide, just like for collection of any items that won't fit in bins etc. I was happy to pay them, unfortunately they couldn't remove. I will now have to pay someone else to remove, or we scrap the pool, depending on what my children would prefer. If they want to keep the pool then I'll bear the cost, it will just mean economising in other areas.

Call a swimming pool maintenance company and get them to do it. They are used to fishing dead and decomposing animals out of pools that haven't been properly drained or covered.

And pay the money. It will be a lot of hard work to sanitise that pool now.

It would be cheaper to dispose of the whole thing and buy a new pool.

Please can we have a pic of this 🙃

If they want to keep the pool then I'll bear the cost

There's no way they will want to get back into the pool after this.

Why are people asking for pics of a rotting corpse 😩😂

Contact a local farmer. They will be used to dealing with much bigger animals.

Its not the council's responsibility to clean your pool if you can't cover it properly. Just get on with it or pay someone to do it. Your clearly well off enough to pay them if you have a pool

the company coming out weren't going to sanitise it, just pump out the water and remove any animal parts.

Once it's drained I thought we could bleach/ jetwash it or something to ensure it was clean. Maybe that's unrealistic and the best option is just to scrap it :(

Ask on FB. Some daft get will come round and scoop it out for £50.

No one had asked the council to clean the pool.

The council offer a dead animal (non pet) disposal service for 50. They came out but could not retrieve it from the pool. They were only there to take away the body, that was all.

I got the pool on a really cheap deal, it would have been about £500 normally. So it would be cheaper to keep it...but I am now worrying about whether it will be clean enough.

Something like this?

Its definately worth ringing a pool cleaning company for advice. I feel for you, I couldnt do it

You can get pools for around that figure though. It was going to cost £450 for removal alone then cleaning on top of that? I would absolutely be binning it. There is no way I would let my kids go in a pool after it housed a rotting corpse, let alone give them the choice!

just prod it into a extra strong rubble bag and sling somewhere wild @QualityFeet are you really advocating fly tipping a bag full of rotting corpse? I live 'somewhere wild' and get fed up of people just lobbing their unwanted stuff out in the woods around my home. Even if you are going to suggest the OP tips it out and takes her stinky rubble bag home with her I still don't want her partly stewed unidentifiable animal. Yes, wild animals die all the time, but usually they are eaten fairly promptly by other animals - rabbits and pheasants don't die of old age, they die because something bigger catches and eats them and doesn't leave a corpse decomposing in the sun. Bigger animals like badgers and foxes generally get eaten by scavengers like crows and kites (or even other foxes.) If the OP's dead thing is too rotten to pick up, it's too rotten for nature to deal with it in the usual way and should be disposed of hygienically.

Poolproblems it's a harsh lesson to learn but you've learnt it now so hopefully it will prevent it happening again, but if you have a pool you have to maintain it correctly. That could mean checking it each day, or it could mean covering it securely. Animals do fall in a drown, and if an animal as big as a badger could drown in there then a dog certainly could too. I think I would be looking at getting a replacement liner - if it is that smelly and decomposed I don't think I would want to swim in it, no matter how well you'd cleaned it. You never get all the bits out of a pool. New liners are not that expensive for a smaller pool, certainly cheaper than paying for someone to come and take your corpse away.

Helicopter?

Are you sure it’s not human?!

How do you maintain your pool? In France many people employ the services of a pool maintenance company when someone comes about once a month in winter and once a week in summer to clean pool and test the quality of the water etc. Google 'pool maintenance' for your area. You might find a ''pool man'' who will help you. You will have to drain or pump all the water out anyway because presumably it will be infected by dead animal - again have the water tested. Do you use chlorine, salt or something else - possibly water may be OK - you may be able to sanitise it. If water is too polluted and you do not have much land you will need a tanker of some sort to take the water way as well as pool is so big. Keep cover on next time.

If you are in the SE there is a pump company in Maidstone.

The original company want 450 to remove it, and hopefully will also drain.

I've managed to contact a pool cleaning co (thanks for the suggestion) who will empty it and retrieve for 250. I don't know if they would clean as well, or how much more that would be, I'd have to check, I forgot to ask that on my enquiry.

I'm not sure whether to just get rid of the pool though.

Get rid of the pool. they are hard enough to clean after being out for a couple of days !

If you can't do it yourself you'll need to get somebody else in. Seems an awful cheap pool if it only cost around £200. Say you'll pay the £450 If they guarantee to remove it. Would you even want to use the pool again. Don't think I'd be keen. What about those house clearance type firms. They might be willing for a price.

I would just get rid and start again. I think I would feel a bit icky about it even post cleaning!

I can send my dd ,she’s constantly picking up dead things from the road ,where drivers run them down ,then ring in and say they saw a dead xyz in the road